Synarbor, formerly Public Recruitment Group, shrugged off a mixed trading environment and heavy restructuring to post profits of £2.9m for the year ending 31 December 2007.

The education and social care recruiter sold off its healthcare division in April last year to Healthcare Locums, raising £5.2m. It also placed 12m new shares, which realised £4.9m. Although revenue dipped to £56.4m from £60m in 2006, the company said that revenues remained strong despite the restructuring and a mixed trading environment.

Synarbor was further boosted by the news that its net debt was reduced by 49% to £12.5m, compared to £24.2m in 2006.

"The repositioning and rebranding of the company has enabled Synarbor to broaden its offering to encompass all support services," said Luke Johnson, Synarbor's chairman.

Dean Kelly, chief executive of the company, says of the financial performance: "Few companies could have transformed themselves so radically in the course of a year while maintaining revenues and gross profits at the level we managed.

"We are now set fair for a 2008 that reflects the hard transformative work undertaken in 2007. I believe that we now have the right strategy, the right products and the right team to make continued progress in the coming year, despite the challenging trading environment."

Synarbor changed its name from Public Recruitment Group on 18 October last year.